


Saturday Night at WatcherWorld

by memoriesaremine, shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Angst, Dad Paul Matthews, Dad Tom Houston, Death, Eye Trauma, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Gore, Guns, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentally Ill Teenagers, Minor Character Death, Nightmare Time Spoilers, Panic Attacks, Torture, WatcherWorld, if you've seen watcherworld heed those warnings that you would give the show, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27134156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memoriesaremine/pseuds/memoriesaremine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars/pseuds/shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars
Summary: “Tomorrow night. Watcher World, have some Uncle-niece bonding time, you know?”“Uncle Sam, it's really not my thing, I…”“Oh, relax, it’ll be some good old-fashioned fun. Come on, Ellie, you don’t wanna make Blinky sad, do you?”in which the teenagers of hatchetfield are forced into going to watcherworld for the evening.
Relationships: Alice (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)/OFC, Becky Barnes & Emma Perkins, Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, OFC/OMC, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Saturday Night at WatcherWorld

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS AND TAGS, THEY ARE NO JOKES.

This was not Noel’s scene at all. Loud, crazy amusement park full of mascots and big rides. Essentially all of her least favorite things. Especially the overwhelming amount of people as it got closer to Halloween. 

“I don’t know if I’m gonna go,” She said to Elsabeth one day after work, running her fingers through her hair. She sipped from the bottle of seltzer in her hand. They were sitting outside, hanging out until she got picked up.

“Apparently it sucks,” Elsabeth replied with a shrug. “My dad keeps  _ insisting  _ I go with him. I don’t know what his deal is, but he’s being suspiciously nice to me.” 

“Yeah, Uncle Sam’s the same. Is there some sort of Shitty Parent and Child Go Free weekend or some shit like that?” Noel waved her bottle around as she talked. It fizzed and bubbled in her hand.

“I dunno, I guess,” Elsabeth said. She shrugged a bit. “I know it’s probably….like, fake or something, but having him be nice to me is so...so great.” She smiled a bit. “And I keep expecting him to stop, but he isn’t. Maybe...maybe things are gonna change.” 

“Maybe.” Noel sighed, leaning her head back against the wall she was sitting against. ‘I expect Sam to snap at any second. I’m waiting for one comment before I snap too.” She sighed. Sam had been unusually nice. Usually that meant he was building up to a big match.

Elsabeth sighed. “It's only for a few more months, and then we all get out of here. We leave and we  _ never  _ come back.” She swallowed. “I’m just….I don’t know if I can leave right now, so having Dad be nice would be a really good thing.” 

“We leave and never come back.” Noel echoed, resting her head on the cap of the bottle. 

“I leave if and only if the kids are safe,” Elsabeth corrected. 

“I’m taking the baby with me.” Noel murmured. “I talked to Mount Holyoke already, for if I get in. If it’s unsafe, I’m moving in with the baby.” Charlotte was pregnant with a baby. Not Sam’s, that was for sure, which warranted danger Noel was scared of. She was already deciding and talking to Charlotte. If it was dangerous, she’d take the baby with her to college. “If I don’t get in, I’ll sort it out with another school.”

“Fair enough,” Elsabeth said. “I don’t know how thrilled NYU will be about that. If I even get in. Davey and I haven’t heard anything yet.” 

“I thought Davey and you were getting an apartment?” Noel asked, looking up. 

“We talked about it,” Elsabeth shrugged. “Gracie’s going to school with her girlfriend, y’know, Sof? They’re talking about...Seattle or something, so Davey asked me about it since we both want to go to New York. So, maybe.” 

Charlotte’s car pulled up to the curb and Noel sighed. “Thanks for waiting with me, Elsie,” she said. “I’ll see you Sunday since we both have tomorrow off?” She stood up and stretched.

“Yep,” Elsabeth nodded. “See you Sunday, Ellie.” 

Uncle Sam was grinning from ear to ear when Noel walked in the door, which scared her already. She put her bottle of seltzer in the recycling and put her bag by the door, taking her jacket off. 

“Ellie, I have a surprise for you,” Sam said. He almost sounded taunting.

“What is it?” Noel took a deep breath, turning around.

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets, handing them to Noel. “Tomorrow night. Watcher World, have some Uncle-niece bonding time, you know?” 

“I…” She trailed off. “Uncle Sam, it's really not my thing, I…” She shook her head. Amusement parks were bad.

“Oh, relax,” Sam said, his smile widening. “It’ll be some good old-fashioned fun. Come on, Ellie, you don’t wanna make Blinky sad, do you?” The name Blinky prodded at a childhood memory she didn’t want to resurface. She pushed it down.

“It’s not my thing, you know how I am with amusement parks, remember that one we went to where I had a panic attack two summers ago?”

“It’ll be different this time,” Sam promised. “ _ Everything  _ will be different this time. Now go on upstairs, Ellie. I need to talk to your aunt about something.” 

“Um, I-I want to stay down here.” Noel shook her head. “I need to eat something. And take my medicine.”

“Fine, go in the kitchen, then,” Sam said dismissively. 

Noel obeyed, slipping past Charlotte into the kitchen. As she was looking through the pantry for something she wanted to eat, her phone buzzed. 

**_Davey Chastity_ **

_ Davey: any chance you want a Watcher World ticket because i sure don’t _

_ Noel: sam just held up two for me and him i think im gonna be sick <3 _

_ Davey: oh wtf? Mom and dad did the same thing to Gracie and i? For tomorrow night? _

_ Noel: yeah???? Im gonna go i dont think i have a choice _

_ Davey: yeah me neither but at least maybe if we plan it right we can dip early, not like s*m and mom and dad are gonna notice?  _

_ Noel: he’s acting all weird i really dont like it _

_ Davey: my parents are being,,,weirdly nice to me? Idk elsie said the same thing with her dad, I’m wondering if she got a ticket too  _

_ Noel: i think she said she did _

_ Noel: hold on _

**_< 3 hello lgbtq community <3_ **

_ Noel: wait did we all get watcherworld tickets??????? _

_ Elsie: in the world’s weirdest interaction with my dad? I did  _

_ Elsie: Storytime,,,,pov you’re me you walk in the door after work and dad’s like ‘hey i got the two of us watcher world tickets’ so, naturally, you’re like, what about the kids? And he goes, and i shit you not, find them a babysitter pls  _

_ Gracie: no yeah us too _

_ Noel: s*m just really tried to talk to c**rlotte with me upstairs after telling me about the tickets as if he forgot about the Amusement Park Panic Attack of 2016 ™ when i broke down at that fair  _

_ Davey: Ok there’s no way he forgot about that this is weird _

_ Elsie: wtf okay ethan just texted me asking me the same fucking thing how many people are like this?  _

_ Noel: lexie texted me too same with her mom, no hannah banana tho  _

_ Gracie: it’s a conspiracy they’re all being too nice _

_ Noel: is this s*m and c**r’s way of making me let them keep the baby through some elaborate scheme involving all of our parents _

_ Davey: i wouldn’t put it past any of them  _

_ Noel: ok anyways off this topic because i know we’re all being forced WHAT THE FUCK DO I WEAR TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK _

_ Elsie: Bitch just wear your regular clothes i don’t think S*m is gonna give a shit lol you can bet your ass im wearing sweatpants  _

_ Noel: motherfucker i only wear ballet clothes, pajamas, and my work uniform u tell me which one will get me not murdered/will not trigger a panic attack <3  _

_ Elsie: ma’am wear whatever will make you comfy fuck the system listen if sam is trying to manipulate you about the baby he cannot give you shit about your outfit  _

_ Noel: ok u r forgetting the panic attack i will inevitably have the morning of _

_ Davey: if you want i can come over that morning and we can chill and i’ll, like, try to help <3  _

_ Noel: wait that'd be so nice davey _

_ Davey: i’ve got you mom and dad can’t say no or be dicks about it if they’re trying to gaslight me <3  _

_ Gracie: <3 we love to see it <3 _

_ Davey: LOVE to see it  _

_ Noel: LOVE to see it  _

_ Alice: what the fuck did i miss _

_ Alice: no panic attacks _

_ Noel: We’ll see babe <3  _

_ Alice: If y’all are going to watcher world tm i can talk to my dad see if he’ll take me. He’s been wanting some ‘father-daughter bonding’ and I wanna hang out with y’all  _

_ Davey: so im hearing crash the michaels place on saturday before we leave?  _

_ Elsie: Yes yes yes please  _

On Saturday, Noel was nearly awoken by David and Grace Chastity entering her house. She rolled out of bed and shuffled down to meet them after pulling a shirt on, opening the door. 

“Good morning.” She yawned. “Come in.”

“Hey,” David said. He held the door with his elbow, balancing a tray of coffees in his arms. He set it down on the counter before handing her one, made exactly how she liked it. “I figured our fun day in Hell deserved coffee and cold, shitty pastries.” 

Grace held up a bag. “Muffins, bitch.” 

“Beanies?” Noel stretched. “Uncle Sam’s car’s gone. Auntie Char had work.”

“Oh, fun, we have the house to ourselves,” David said. “Hypothetical, we trash the place in retaliation for being forced to have a fun bonding time with our shitty parents.” 

“Absolutely not,” Noel said with a laugh. “I would probably get smacked. And I’ve never been smacked by him, so…” She sipped her coffee and gave him a thumbs-up. 

“I was kidding, mostly,” David said, giving her a thumbs-up back. “I was tempted to trash our house, just to see how far I can take it, but I also don’t want to test the thing they said last week.” He exchanged a look with Grace. 

“No, you will not be testing the thing,” Grace agreed firmly. “I still can’t  _ believe _ they said that.” 

“What thing?” Noel raised an eyebrow. 

“They quoted some Bible verse that apparently means it’s okay to beat your kids,” David said. “It wasn’t exactly directed at me, but it was  _ definitely _ directed at me.” 

“Well, fuck them, Sam just threatens it straight up. You haven’t known true fear until your cop uncle threatens you after work in his uniform when you're outside Beanies on a five-minute panic attack recovery because you spilled some brat’s hot chocolate on yourself.”

“Oh,  _ fuck  _ Sam,” David said, rolling his eyes. “What a dick. Maybe if we dip early from this stupid thing, we can steal all their credit cards and actually go to California.” 

“Yes, please.” Elsabeth was leaning against the kitchen doorway. “Sorry, the door was open so I just let myself in.” She glanced at the coffees and bag of pastries on the counter. 

“The top right is yours,” David said with a smile at her. “Triple shot of French Vanilla and cream, right?” 

“You remember my coffee order.” Elsabeth smiled and took the coffee from the counter. “Thanks.” She took a sip and smiled at him with the straw between her teeth. David’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he turned away.

“Stop fucking drooling over him.” Noel whined, leaning against the counter. “Just fuckin’ go into the master bedroom and get it over with.”

Elsabeth took a napkin from the muffin bag and threw it at her. “Fuck  _ off _ , not in front of my  _ muffin _ .” She took it out of the bag and began to peel away the wrapper. 

“No.” Noel hopped up on the counter and sat down. “Okay, so I do need to pick an outfit that won’t send me into a panic attack.”

“After I finish my muffin, we will go upstairs and pick out a panic-attack free outfit!” Elsabeth proclaimed with her mouth full. “Thanks for grabbing these, by the way, I’m starving.” 

“Yeah, because you don’t eat,” David said. “Neither of you do.” He pointed at Noel and Elsabeth.

“Okay, but neither do you,” Elsabeth pointed out. “And it’s the ‘I don’t have time to grocery shop and I give all my food to my siblings’ for me.” 

“It’s the ‘terrible body image and terrible sense of self’ for me,” Noel said, pointing back at him. “Don’t forget the ballet.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t,” David said. “And I’m also cursing the fact there’s only one  _ good _ therapist in Hatchetfield, and he’s an asshole.” 

“Oh, me too,” Elsabeth said cheerfully. 

“Yeah, he fucked my aunt, and I was paying for my therapy, so..” Noel gave another thumbs-up. “She was paying, but I took it over until I stopped going.”

“Hence, he is an asshole,” David repeated, spreading his hands. He held out his hand for the muffin bag. “Elsie, can you pass me the muffins?” 

“Yay, you’re eating!” Elsabeth said as another knock came at the door. She looked up. “I’ll get it.” 

She hopped off the counter and went to get the door, returning a minute later with Alice in tow. Alice smiled and wrapped her arms around Noel’s waist.

“Hi,” She said softly.

“Hi, love,” Noel replied, leaning her head on Alice’s shoulder. Alice kissed her head. 

“How are you?” Alice asked softly. 

“Tired, how about you?” Noel ran her fingers through the ends of Alice’s hair. “You don’t need to come tonight, you know. Deb’s party is tonight too.” She sipped her coffee. “I think you should go, A. One last little send-off ‘fuck you’ to her if you go looking hot as fuck.”

“I want to come tonight,” Alice whispered. “I’d take spending time at a shitty, rundown amusement park with my awesome girlfriend and my friends over Deb’s stupid party any day. My send off fuck you to Deb already happened.”

“Which time?” Noel asked, fixing how she was sitting. 

“Remember that time I asked you to make out with me at the corn maze?” Alice asked. 

“Was I drunk?” Noel asked, furrowing her eyebrows. It was a dizzy memory.

“I would be concerned if you were.” Elsabeth cut in. “The kids were there that day.” She gave Noel a glare but it was all in good fun.

“You were  _ slightly  _ tipsy,” Alice said. “Deb looked like she was about to blow a gasket. I don’t need to go see her blow smoke into Ziggy’s mouth.” She made a noise of disgust before smiling back at Noel. “But don’t worry, I’ll still look hot as fuck for the amusement park.” 

“You always look hot as fuck, babe,” Noel said. She pulled Alice closer, pressing a kiss to her lips. 

“Save it for the bedroom,” Grace said casually.

“Yeah. And you guys tell  _ me  _ to get a room?” Elsabeth followed up, pointing at them accusingly. 

“Yeah, that’s different,” Noel said, reluctantly pulling away from Alice. “You have pent up sexual tension with Davey. We, on the other hand, are just affectionate.” She pulled Alice back between her legs. 

“Shut up,” David grumbled as he finished his muffin. 

“Did you take your meds, Ellie?” Grace asked. “Or did Sam not get the refill?”

“No, he got them,” Noel sighed. “Or, actually, Auntie Char did, for once.” Noel looked over at the cabinet. “I’ll take them in a second.” 

“No, take them now, Ellie,” Alice said. “Did you eat?” She played with Noel’s hair to try and get her to listen.

“No,” Noel admitted. “I literally just woke up when Grace and Davey got here.” 

“Eat a muffin, at least, please,” Alice said, pressing a kiss to Noel’s hair. “For me?” 

Elsabeth swiped the muffin bag from David and held it out to Noel. Noel rolled her eyes but still took the small muffin from inside and ate it. 

“Thank you,” Alice said, squeezing her hand. “I’ll grab your meds if you want.” 

“Already on it,” Grace said, holding up the bottle with a smile. She set them on the counter for Noel, along with a glass of water. “Here, Ellie.”

“Thanks, Gracie,” Noel said. She finished the muffin and took her meds, leaning back against the wall after.

“Alrighty,” Elsabeth said. “Is it outfit time?” 

“Yeah.” Noel stretched. 

“A and I can stay down here,” David offered, “If you want.”

“Yeah.” Noel managed a smile for him. “That’d be good. Thanks.” She hopped down and kissed Alice quickly before going up to her room. Grace and Elsabeth followed her, and Elsabeth flopped down on Noel’s bed when they got up to her room. 

“Okay, what do we have for options?” Elsabeth asked. 

“Uh, no clue?” Noel looked around at the dirty clothes on the floor. She really needed to do laundry at some point, but the very thought was exhausting. 

Grace opened up the closet to see what they had to work with. “Okay, so, we have some options…” she pulled out some of Noel’s flannels from the closet, ones that Alice or Hannah hadn’t stolen yet. “Do you want a flannel tonight, Ellie?”

“Yeah,” Noel said, nodding. “I like the purple one.” 

“Alright, purple flannel.” Elsabeth caught it when Grace threw it to her. “We’re getting somewhere. This is good. This is the good shit.” She got up and went to the closet to look at the other stuff Noel had. 

“You’re dressed nice,” Noel noticed. 

“It’s just jeans and a sweater, dude,” Elsabeth said, looking down at her outfit. “It’s not like I’m dressed for the Oscars.” 

“Nice for someone who said they were gonna wear sweatpants,” Noel teased. “Does this have anything to do with a certain someone downstairs?” 

“Shut up,” Elsaeth blushed and Noel giggled.

“Are those cuffed jeans I see, Elsie?”

“They’re too long!” Elsabeth crossed her arms. “I just didn’t have sweatpants, okay, jeez!” She laughed and put her hands up. 

“Whatever you say, Elsie,” Noel said as Elsabeth turned back to the closet. “What do we have for options.” 

“Alright, we’ve got yoga pants,” Elsabeth said. “Leggings. Jeans. Ellie, you have really  _ nice _ clothes.”

“Do I?” Noel raised an eyebrow. “I just like, throw things into the cart if I think I’ll probably like them without paying much attention.” 

“Yeah, they’re really nice,” Elsabeth agreed. “I mean, like, ACAB but Sam kinda makes bank.” 

“If I didn’t have really shitty body issues, I think I’d wear a lot of clothes that, like, all the popular girls wear. Their clothes are so nice.”

“You’d look better in them than they do,” Elsabeth snorted. “Once we get out of here? We find you a proper therapist who doesn’t fuck your Aunt, and then we buy you all the good shit.” 

“I didn’t even apply to college in Cali,” Noel groaned, leaning back against her pillows. “I couldn’t do it.”

Elsabeth reached out and squeezed her hand. “We’re gonna figure this out. As long as we get away from this shitty town, that’s all that matters.” 

“It’s gonna suck when I’m completely either stuck in this goddamn town or across the fucking country from you guys.”

“Allie and you are applying to a whole bunch of the same schools,” Grace said. “And she will go to one close to you, or the same one, if there is absolutely any way she can.” 

“I hope,”Noel said softly. “Elsie, what pants do you think?”

“You’ve got these jeans that aren’t completely skinny jeans, which means they won't hug onto you.” Elsabeth turned with the jeans to show her.

“That sounds good,” Noel said. “I’ll try it on, just to make sure, but it should be okay.” 

“If it’s not, we try something else,” Elsabeth shrugged. Noel hopped up and took the clothes and both girls turned away to let her change. It was normal at this point.

“Feels okay,” she said, testing out the outfit. She turned and gave her friends a thumbs-up. “This should be okay.” She went to look in the mirror and Grace turned her around.

“No mirror for you.” She said. “Come on, let’s go back down stairs.”

“Okay,” Noel said reluctantly after a minute. She walked downstairs and back into the kitchen to finish her coffee. Alice looked and smiled, wrapping her arms around Noel from behind.

“And I thought I was gonna be the hot one,” she whispered in her ear. Noel blushed and turned, burying her head in her chest. Alice just laughed and kissed her head. “You look great, love.”

“Thanks.” Noel blushed. 

“Tonight's going to be great even if you’re being dragged out by Shitty Cop.” Alice kissed her head again. 

Noel didn’t talk the entire car ride to Watcher World. All her friends had been forced to go with their parents, because they had the tickets. Sam kept trying to make conversation, but Noel would respond with one-word answers and stare out the window at the trees. The woods always made her uncomfortable. This inexplicable feeling of dread washed over her, though that might have just been spending time with Sam. 

They parked the car and got out, walking up to the entrance. The mascot’s eye really creeped Noel out. She felt sick to her stomach just looking.

“Uncle Sam, I really don’t want to go,” She said quietly.

“Oh, relax, Ellie,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. “We’re already here, and I’ve already got the tickets.” He pointed up to the mascot. “You don’t wanna make Blinky  _ sad  _ do you?” 

Noel flinched at the tone of his voice and side stepped away a little bit. “I wanna go home. With Auntie Charlotte. She’s pregnant, you know. We should be home i-in case something happens.” 

“Oh, Charlotte’s with Ted,” Sam said casually. “She’ll be fine. Besides, she wants you and me to have a fun time together. Come on, now.” 

“No, we should be home.” Noel tried to play her anxiety to make him listen. “We should be home in case anything happens. You know Ted won’t fix anything.”

“Ellie, I’m not driving all the way back there.” Sam’s tone of voice turned impatient. “Now, come on and just try not to ruin this for me, please?” 

There was the Sam she remembered. The “please” was new, but the impatience wasn’t. She caught sight of Grace and David with their parents. Mrs. Chastity looked too much like Linda Monroe, the stupid lady who came into beanies only to torture Emma. 

“Oh, I see Grace and David Chastity,” She said. “Can I go see them?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, turning to the ticket guy to give them their tickets. The man’s smile was too wide, and his expression almost too cheery. Noel, Grace, and David didn't see it, but when the ticket seller looked at them, it was with something like bloodlust. She gave them a small wave and pulled her flannel tighter around her. She almost preferred crashing Deb’s party to Watcher World at this point and they weren’t even inside.

David waved back, but Grace looked distracted. Noel slipped away from Sam to go over to them. 

“Hi,” She said softly. She had a sweatshirt in her drawstring to put on in case of anything.

“I don’t like this place,” Grace said, hugging her arms. “I just...I don’t like it.” 

“Me nether,” Noel said and took her sweatshirt out. “Gracie, here. Put this on. It might help.”

“Are you sure?” Grace asked quietly. “Y-you can have it if you want.” 

“No, it’s okay,” Noel said, pressing it into her hands. “You take it. Seriously.” 

“Thanks, Ellie.” Grace pulled the sweatshirt over her head as Sam called to Noel to ‘come on, already.’ She nodded and went back over to Sam.

“Enjoy the fair!” the ticket seller said brightly. “I gave your uncle here the child price!” 

“...Thanks?” Noel said with a tight nod. “Have a good one.” She expected that. She was the size of a 12-year-old.

“Oh, I will,” the ticket seller replied, his grin widening. Noel quickly looked away and went back to looking at the floor as she walked in. The Chastitys walked in behind them, David’s brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Hey, is it just me or did that guy seem overly cheery?” he whispered to Noel. “Like  _ way  _ too cheery.” 

“Customer service does a hell of a good job at making people seem overly cheery.” She said, rolling her eyes. 

“I know,” David said. “That was just a...weird interaction. He gave mom and dad ‘child discounts’ for me and Grace.” 

“Technically, we’re all under 18 except for Alice.” Noel said. “He gave me one too.” 

“Well, you look 12.” A smile crossed David’s face. “I’m not surprised he thought you were a child. It’s just weird for me and Gracie.” 

“Yeah,” Noel said. Sam was talking to the Chastity parents, which surprised her a bit. She didn’t know they actually knew each other. “Hey, they’re talking.” 

“Yeah, that’s weird,” David said. “I didn’t know they all knew each other.” 

“Me neither,” Noel said. She spotted Ethan, Lex and Elsabeth standing by a large striped tent, talking in low voices. Noel waved and Elsabeth looked up and saw them. She said something to Lex and Ethan and they all practically ran over to Noel and the Chastity twins. 

“Thank God you guys are here,” Elsabeth said, giving Noel a hug. Noel clung onto her for a minute. She liked hugs, especially Elsabeth’s. “We got here earlier. I was here by myself for a while, and that  _ sucked _ .” she looked around in disgust. “One of those Blinky mascot things  _ hit  _ on me.” She rolled her eyes. “I told Dad and he just laughed it off.” 

“Where? I’m gonna fucking punch it.” Noel immediately kicked into gear. “That’s fucking disgusting.”

“I don’t know where he went,” Elsabeth said with a sigh. “It was gross. But Ethan showed up and he went away, so that’s good.” 

“That’s good,” David agreed, moving a little closer to her and looking around as if keeping watch for anymore Blinky mascots who might hit on seventeen year old girls. 

“This place is a  _ dump _ ,” Ethan noted. “I don’t know why Dad wanted to bring me here. The booze is more expensive than at the house. He and Lex’s mom went off to go drink somewhere, which is fine by me.” 

“Sam wouldn’t  _ shut the fuck up _ about some show he wanted me to see.”

“The kid’s show?” Elsabeth tilted her head. “Yeah, my dad said something about that too. It’s so weird.” 

“Guys!” Sam’s voice yelled to them all, and they all looked over at him reluctantly. He was waving impatiently at them all to come over to the big stripey tent. The Marquee read “ _ Sniggle Show _ ” with an image of a smiling woman with pigtails holding a Blinky doll and wearing green fuzzy pom poms on her headband. 

“That woman’s dead eyes reflect how I feel,” Lex said drily, her fingers laced with Ethan’s. “I’m gonna suffer in there with you guys, because I am a hero.” 

“Thank you,” Ethan smiled at her, kissing her cheek. Alice still wasn’t there yet. Noel looked around, sighing. She hoped Alice would be there soon. She wasn’t sure she could sit through this trip without Alice to sneak her away at any point.

They all reluctantly trudged over to the tent and went inside. The place was full of screaming kids and their parents, all of whom were on their phones. Noel sat down and put her head in her hands. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be home. She didn’t care if Ted was over at this point. Anything was better than this. 

“Ellie?” She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, Alice’s soft voice reaching her ears. 

“Hey.” She looked up and managed a smile. “You made it?”

“Made it,” Alice promised. She kissed Noel’s cheek. “Sorry I’m late. Dad was surprised I actually wanted to go with him.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Noel said, reaching up to take her hand. “I’m really happy you’re here.” 

Alice smiled and sat down next to her. “Dad’s here too, but I wanted to come sit with you.” 

“Thanks,” Noel whispered. “I don’t want to be here at  _ all _ .” She buried her head in Alice’s shoulder. She was wearing a shirt with cutouts. Noel liked that. The group had dispersed through the room, picking whatever row had seats.

“I know you don’t,” Alice murmured gently. “Hey, maybe in a bit I can steal the car keys from Dad and we can take off and go eat McDonald’s. How does that sound?” 

“Okay,” Noel mumbled as Alice put her arms around her. The screaming kids were a little too overwhelming. “Someone get those kids to shut the fuck up.”

“I don’t understand why everyone wanted to go see this,” Alice said, shaking her head. “It’s gonna be so  _ bad. _ ”

“Yeah,” Noel mumbled as Alice gently covered her ears so the shouting wouldn’t be as loud. Noel lifted her head slightly and looked around for her friends. Elsabeth, Grace and David were all sitting together. Elsabeth’s dad was saying something to her, and it was clearly making all of them uncomfortable. Elsabeth just crossed her arms and faced forward. “Go see Elsie, she looks uncomfy.” She whispered to Alice. Sam still sat with the Chastitys, chatting as if he’d been the one attending church with them for years.

Elsabeth saw Noel’s expression and waved her off, mouthing ‘ _ I’m fine _ .’ Richard had stopped talking to her and she seemed a little better. David had one hand on her knee, and she reached down to take it. Alice just chuckled and rubbed Noel’s arm.

“Look at them.” She smiled. “All comfortable.”

Noel glanced up to see them holding hands and she smiled softly. “Dumbasses.” She looked over at Alice and snickered. “David remembered her coffee order this morning and she practically swooned as if he doesn’t bring her coffee all the fucking time.” 

“I’ve been considering just putting them in a bedroom and keeping them there for a while until they finally just do it,” Alice snickered. 

“I think Lyanna and Hugo are just as fed up as we are.” Noel laughed a bit, Alice’s hand running through her hair. “David remembered her coffee order, like, they’re literally best friends and she’s got this massive crush on him and he’s got one on her, but they’re too in denial to admit it.” She pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. 

“Sounds like two other useless lesbians I could mention,” Lex said with a grin as she passed them with a giant piece of fried dough. “How many years were you two in denial again?”

“Almost eleven.” Alice said casually. “Playing house, right, Ellie?”

“Yep,” Noel said, leaning against Alice. “But, like, that’s different.” 

“I still don’t get the whole ‘playing house’ joke,” Lex said, sitting down in the empty seat next to Noel. “You never told me about that.”

“Long story short we did this thing as kids where we, um, ‘played house’ and pretended to be wives,” Noel said, blushing. “I was considered the dad because, surprisingly, I was a tomboy as a kid.”   
  


“And that’s why you’re gay.” Alice grinned. Lex spread her hands. 

“And that’s why I’m gay,” Noel agreed as the curtain went up. 

“Ahoy there, boys and girls!” The announcer started. She turned her head towards the stage and cringed at the voice. It made her tense under Alice’s arms. Alice stroked her hair gently. 

“Are you okay, Ellie?” Alice asked softly. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, nothing, it’s nothing.” Noel began to tremble as the voice continued. She recognized that voice. It rang a faint bell in her head and made her body involuntarily shake with fear. Her childhood memories pricked at the back of her brain. She took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” 

“Ellie?” Alice asked softly, “You’re shaking, love.” She tried to sit Noel up but Noel didn’t want to move. “ _ Ellie _ .”

“I-it’s fine,” Noel pressed her head into Alice’s shoulder, trying to block out the voice. “I’m fine.” The announcer sounded too similar.

Alice just rubbed her back as the show began and the Sniggles began to sing their song. It was peppy for the kinds of things they were singing about. She was too out of it to really focus on the singing. It made her stomach hurt.

She tuned it out until she heard all the Sniggles running offstage and glanced up. A lone Sniggle girl, the one on the marquee stood onstage. She stared at the audience, her eyes a little unfocused as she began to sing about someplace called Snoozletown. The song was wistful and a little sad, and for some reason, Noel actually liked it. It hit home a little too hard. She liked it though. As the song ended, the rest of the Sniggles came back onstage and surrounded her, chiding her for wanting to leave. Noel didn’t like that part. That hit close to home in a different way. She adjusted so she could see the stage a little better. She hoped it would be over soon. She could get through it. 

She really didn’t like one of them holding a mallet. Now that made her hands shaky. He said something about fighting off enemy creatures, as realistic-looking robotic pink rabbits popped up from holes in the stage. He slammed it down on them and she flinched back in Alice’s arms. The sound was too much, and the sight was scarier as the rabbits kept popping up near the sad one. The sad one, Snigglette, or something, was looking at the rabbits with eyes full of sympathy. One popped up right next to her, and she looked down at it without moving.

The crack of a jaw sounded through the room and that made Noel’s panic mode turn on. She registered blood spattered across the stage, the actress lying unmoving on the floor. She bit back a scream, her hands shaking as she buried her head in Alice’s shoulder. 

“A, I-I…” She trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Alice said. “Lets go outside.” She went to get up with Noel, touching Lex’s arm gently. “Lex, I’m taking Ellie out.”

“Okay,” Lex said, seeming to not quite hear her. “Okay. Holy shit.” 

Alice steered Noel out the door, past where David, Elsabeth and Grace were sitting. David was trying to get up and help, but his father grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back into his seat. Sam didn’t even acknowledge Noel, which was definitely for the better. If he had, it would have made it worse. Elsabeth looked over at Noel with concern and shock in her eyes. She immediately realized what was going on and went to get out to follow them. 

“ _ I’ve got her _ ,” Alice mouthed. “ _ It’s okay. _ ” Nobody seemed to notice them, all in a state of shock. She brought Noel outside into the cool air and tried to sit her down on a park bench. Noel was still shaking, her face buried in her hands. She was placed on the bench and Alice began to run her fingers through her hair to soothe her.

“I’m right here,” Alice whispered. “I’m right here. I’m right here. We’re out of there. It’s gonna be okay.” 

“H-Her jaw,” Noel sobbed. “It was b-broken. That’s what that was.” Alice didn’t want to question why Noel knew what a broken jaw sounded like. Noel broke back down into sobs. She could hear the sound over and over again in her head, and the flash of a memory of seeing her mother’s jaw get broken stuck in her head.

“I know, I know,” Alice said softly. “I saw. But they’re calling her a doctor and she’s gonna be just fine. She’ll be just fine.” She stroked Noel’s hair. “It seemed like the guy was taking good care of her.” 

“I w-wanna go home.”

“Okay, okay,” Alice said, taking a deep breath. “My dad wanted to go on that roller coaster or something, and then I’ll get the keys from him and we’ll get out of here, okay?” 

“O-okay,” Noel nodded, taking a shaky breath, and then another. 

“Here, have water,” Alice looked in her bag for the water bottle she’d snagged from the fridge. It was inevitable one of them would have a panic attack, and water seemed to be the common help for them. “Drink it, Ellie.”

Alice helped her sip it slowly, letting her drink the whole bottle. She had Noel take deep breaths in between sips to try to help her calm down. She wiped away the tears once Noel could hold the water bottle on her own. “Good, good job, Ellie, you’re doing great.” She whispered to try and soothe her.

“S-sorry,” Noel mumbled, looking up at her. “I-I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, love,” Alice whispered. She pressed a kiss to her head. “It’s okay.” 

People began to disperse from the theater and their friends were the first ones out. Noel wiped her tears away so they wouldn’t see her crying.

Elsabeth came up to them, holding another water bottle. “Davey said to give this to you.” She bent down to look at Noel. “How are you? I know that was….a lot.” 

“Fine,” Noel whispered, taking the water and sipping from it slowly. “Just...that was a lot to handle.” She looked in Alice’s bag. It was past her time to take her meds. “A, did I give you m-my meds? They’re not in here.” 

“I don’t think you did,” Alice said, her brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Wait, no, wait, fuck,” Noel said. “I left them in Sam’s car. Fuck. Fuck.  _ Fuck _ . H-he told m-m-me to l-l-leave them in the car and then I-I forgot to slip them in m-my pocket.” Another panic attack was on the verge of coming. The group seemed to sense it. They were all pretty aware of Noel’s limits.

“Okay.” Elsabeth put a hand on her shoulder. “Okay. How about this. I’ll run back and grab them from Sam’s car for you, okay? Or I can have Ethan do it, he’s a fast runner.” 

“O-okay,” Noel mumbled. “T-thanks, E-Elsie.” 

“Of course.” Elsabeth stood up and jogged back over to Ethan and Lex. She said something to Ethan, who nodded and squeezed Lex’s hand before he disappeared into the crowd. Elsabeth gave Noel and Alice a thumbs-up from where she was standing. Noel nodded and held her head in her hands.

“Ethan’s gonna get your meds, it’s all gonna be okay,” Alice said softly. She rubbed Noel’s back as Bill came over. 

“Alice, are you going to come on the tear-jerker with me?” He asked. 

“Dad, I’m a little busy right now,” Alice said, and Noel could tell she was trying not to get snappy with Bill. 

“You can go, A,” Noel said quickly. “Elsie’ll come sit with me. Or Davey and Grace will.”She looked around for her friends. “Hey, where did Davey and Grace go?” She looked around, unable to see her blue sweatshirt anywhere.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Alice said, furrowing her brow. “They were with Elsie a second ago.” Elsabeth was talking to her father, who was tugging on her arm. She glanced over at Alice and Noel and then pulled away, running over to them. 

“Hi, please pretend like we’re having a very important conversation,” Elsabeth said, sitting down on the bench next to Noel. 

“We can talk about the fact I just had a panic attack,” Noel said. “That’s a very important conversation to have.” Bill’s eyebrows shot up but Alice stopped him from responding. 

“Yeah, that’s important,” Elsabeth said. “You need more water? I think I have some.” 

“No, no, I’m good.” Noel waved off her concern. She managed a smile for Elsabeth and Bill. “You go with your dad, A. Elsie and I’ll be fine here.” 

“Okay,” Alice said reluctantly. “I’ll be right back, Ellie, okay? With the car keys.”

“Okay,” Noel said softly. Alice pressed a kiss to her forehead gently before going off with Bill. Elsabeth sat down next to Noel and took her hand gently. 

“W-where’d Grace and Davey go?” Noel asked softly. “I thought Davey would be with you.” She managed a smile, nudging Elsabeth lightly. 

“With their parents,” Elsabeth said, glancing off to a tent across the park. “They wanted to go to the tent where people like, throw knives at each other and stuff? I dunno, they were weirdly insistent about it.” She shrugged. “Davey said he’d take me on the Ferris Wheel after, though.” 

“Oh, cute,” Noel said, grinning at her. “Cute story to tell all your kids.” 

“Shut up,” Elsabeth grumbled. “It’s not like that.” 

“Sure, just like how Alice got me on the Ferris Wheel and did the same?”

“Okay, maybe.” Elsabeth laughed a bit. “I’m just not getting my hopes up. I’m not getting my hopes up at all.” 

“I can tell,” Noel said as Richard came over. “Hi, Mr. Pekkala.” She said softly. 

Elsabeth looked nervous as she met her dad’s eyes. She slid her hands into the sleeves of her sweater and gripped at the fabric tightly. “Dad, I’ll go in a minute. Just lemme stay with Ellie.” 

“You can go, Elsie,” Noel said. “I’m okay.”

“Ellie, are you  _ sure?”  _ Elsabeth said softly. 

“Yes, I have my water, I know where Alice is, I’ll be  _ fine _ .” Noel said.

“Listen to your friend, Elsabeth,” Richard saïd smoothly. “Everything will go according to plan. Don’t you worry.” 

“I….okay.” Elsabeth reluctantly got up and followed her father away. Richard Pekkala gave Noel a smile over his, and just before he and Elsabeth disappeared into the crowd, Noel saw his eyes glow purple. She didn’t like that. She grabbed some gum from Alice’s bag and popped it into her mouth. The rhythmic chewing helped her. The Blinky sign seemed to stare at her. That didn’t help her uneasiness. 

She glanced up as the ride started. She spotted Alice and Bill sitting together in a cart. Alice was looking nervous as the ride creaked loudly and swayed a bit in the wind. 

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Noel looked up to see storm clouds advancing on the park. The ride would come back down. It had to, right? 

Noel watched as the ride screeched to a halt, her eyes wide. Alice hated heights. She swallowed and glanced around. She spotted Alice and Bill’s car way above her head. She could faintly hear Alice crying. That set off every alarm bell in her head. 

Before she even knew what she was doing, she was standing at the base of the steps that led all the way up to the top of the ride, where Alice and Bill were stuck. She began to ascend the stairs, clutching the railing for support. She was definitely going to get kicked out for this.  _ Good _ .

“A,” Noel said when she reached the top. Alice was curled up in the car, her face buried in her hands. She was trying and failing to steady her breathing. “A, it’s me, it’s Ellie.” She reached out her hands carefully, Bill watching her. “It’s Ellie. Can you look up at me? Right here, babe.” She kept her balance.

Alice managed to look up at her. “E-Ellie, I-I can’t- I need-I need to get down.” 

“I know, I know, I’m going to help you come down,” Noel said softly. “W-We’re going to walk down. I’ve got you. Can you take my hands?” 

Alice’s trembling hands reached out and took Noel’s. Noel began to carefully guide her out of the cart, taking a deep breath. “Take a deep breath, A.”

“I-I can’t.” Alice hesitated at the edge of the cart. “I-I…” 

“I’ve got you,” Noel said softly. “I’m not gonna let you fall. Talk to me, A.” She squeezed Alice’s hands. “Tell me about the play you’re writing. The new one. You said you’d tell me about it, remember? Is that the one you got the scholarship for, love?” 

“Y-yeah.” Alice nodded a bit. “Well, it’s, um, it’s about, um, vampire lesbians.” She laughed a little bit. “Well, one of them’s a vampire.” She looked up at Noel. “I-it’s a comedy. And a musical. I-I think I’m gonna ask Davey to help with the music.” 

“What’s the plot, babe?” Noel asked as they slowly took steps down the stairs. “Can I hear about it?”   
  


“Y-You’ll laugh,” Alice blushed. 

“I won’t, A.” Noel squeezed her hands again. “I would never laugh at anything you do. Especially something as good as lesbian vampire comedy musicals.” She smiled a bit, taking a deep breath. “Take another deep breath for me.”

“O-okay,” Alice said, taking another deep breath. “I-it’s about this girl, who falls in love with a vampire, and it’s not based on us or anything...well, maybe a little.” She laughed nervously. “And the girl wants to be with the vampire, but…. But things go wrong, and I want you to read it, so no spoilers.” She looked Noel in the eye for the first time. “A-and it has a happy ending. I...I wanted it to have a happy ending. Originally, everyone died, but….but that made me cry so it’s a happy ending.” 

“It has a happy ending,” Noel smiled as she helped Alice down the steps. “I can’t wait to see it someday, my love. On Broadway and everything. Right there with you.” She held her hands, taking another deep breath. “One more deep breath?” 

Alice took one more deep breath as Noel led her down the last few steps.

“And now we’re down,” Noel said with a smile, squeezing Alice’s hands. “You did great, babe.” She pulled her into a hug and held her close. “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too,” Alice said. 

“E went to get my meds. Let’s go find him.”

“Yeah,” Alice nodded. “Yeah. Okay.” She did a double-take and looked at Noel. “Wait, Ellie, you were just having a panic attack a second ago. Are you….are you okay?” 

“I’m okay, now,” Noel promised with a smile. She kissed Alice's cheek. “We’ll go find my meds, get everyone else and then get the hell out of here.” 

“Yeah, just let me get the keys from my dad,” Alice said. She turned to Bill to ask for the keys, but she saw Bill standing a few yards away from her, with his arms crossed ,looking at her. Alice couldn’t quite read his expression, but he turned and walked into the crowd. 

“I’ll find him later,” Alice said, furrowing her brow in confusion. “He was acting kinda weird on the coaster, maybe he just needs a bit.” She turned back to Noel. “Let’s go find Ethan and your meds, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Noel nodded, taking her hand as they walked. “A?” She asked softly.

“Yeah?” Alice said softly, looking over at her. “What’s up?” 

“How much of your show is based on us?”

“Um…” Alice blushed a bit. “I sort of...based the hot vampire on you. I didn’t even realize I was doing it, and then I looked back and I realized the characters...well, um, yeah.” 

“I love being portrayed in art as hotter than I actually am,” Noel kicked a rock down the path. 

“Impossible, no one is hotter than you,” Alice said, squeezing Noel’s hand. 

“You’re hotter than me,” Noel grinned, leaning up to kiss her. Nobody at Watcher World seemed to care. Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention right now. She liked that. The only reason she’d come would be to feel comfortable kissing Alice in public.

“Nah,” Alice said, reaching up to cup her cheek as they kissed. “Nobody’s hotter than you, even me.” 

“No, wrong.” Noel murmured against her lips. “It’s  _ definitely _ you.” 

“I love you, Ellie,” Alice said, pulling away and cupping her face. 

“I love you too.” Noel said as she nearly tripped over something. She looked down and found her CVS pill bottle. “Oh, shit, my pills.”

“Where’s Ethan?” Alice looked around, but there was no sign of Ethan anywhere. 

“I don’t fucking know, but I do need to take my drugs.”

“Are you sure?” Alice said. “I mean, they were on the ground, someone could’ve done something to them, I don’t know…” 

“If someone laced them, they probably wouldn’t have put them on the ground,” Noel pointed out with a shrug. “I just want my fuckin meds, babe. I don’t care at this point. It took me years to get them. I don’t care.” She unscrewed the cap and poured a few pills into her hand. “Do you have any more water?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Alice said, digging through her bag. “Then we’ll go find everyone else, get the keys, and dip. I don’t want to be here when it starts thunderstorming.” She glanced down at Noel’s pill bottle. “This is weird. This isn’t like Ethan, to drop something this important.” 

“Maybe it was just an accident.” Noel said, shaking her head and taking her water from Alice. “He can be careless sometimes, as much as I love him.”

“True,” Alice said. She pulled out her phone. “I’ll try to call him, see where the hell he went.”

She put the phone to her ear and waited for a minute. She tilted her head and put down the phone. “No answer.” 

“Dammit.” Noel rolled her eyes. “Idiot never has his ringer on. I’ll try Lex.” 

She called Lex’s number, only to get the same result. She frowned. “No response from her either.” She tried Elsabeth’s number. No answer. None from the Chastitys either. “Nobody’s answering.”

“Fuck,” Noel tilted her head back and took her pills. “Elsie’s is usually off, but Gracie keeps hers on.”

“Where did they all go anyway?” Alice wondered. “I thought we were all gonna, y’know, stick together.” 

“Davey and Grace’s parents took them to see some knife throwing thing, I don’t know where Mr. Pekkala took Elsie, but I think it’s the same thing. And I have no clue where E and Lexie went.”

“Shit.” Alice sighed. “We should go find them. It’s gonna start pouring on us soon.” 

“Yeah,” Noel said, looking around. “We’ll head back to where the Chastitys were. Hopefully they’re still there.” She took her hand in hers.

The park was strangely empty as they began to walk back. Noel hadn't noticed before going up to get Alice. She hadn’t seen anyone leave. But she only spotted one other person in the park, and, unfortunately, it was someone she recognized. 

“Uncle Sam?” She asked, backing up.

Sam turned to face her. He was gripping a Blinky doll by the neck as if trying to strangle it. His eyes were glowing purple. 

“Oh, um, Uncle Sam, I was j-just with Alice,” Noel stuttered, staring at the doll. “Where’d you get the doll?”

“Ellie, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Sam’s voice was full of a sort of chilling delight. “I was afraid you were gonna miss the main event and I would have to hunt you down. But you’re here now, so we can finally start.” 

With that, he lunged for Noel, who screamed and jumped back. She nearly tripped on her sneaker laces, stumbling. “What main event? W-We saw the show!”

“Oh, you thought  _ that  _ was the main event?” Sam grinned. “That wasn’t even close, Noel, darling. This is the main event for  _ Blinky _ . And he wants blood.” 

“B-Blinky?” Noel’s eyes went wide. “Oh, no, no, Uncle Sam, Blinky’s not real, he was just my im-imaginary friend, remember?” She kept backing up. “Did you drink?”

The loudspeaker crackled to life. “Oh, honey, Blinky’s very real!” A cheerful voice rang out through the park. “And he wanted a few sacrifices. Your uncle here was more than willing to pay the child price.” Sam swiped for Noel again, and this time he was a lot closer to grabbing onto her. 

“W-what?” Noel said. “U-uncle Sam, p-p-please, n-no.” The meds were not helping. Were they even hers? She didn’t check the label. Her head was swimming. Those were  _ not _ her meds. She tripped over something behind her and fell backwards, landing hard on the ground. She tried to squirm away from Sam but he just put a boot on her stomach. 

“Don’t worry, Ellie,” Sam grinned and she couldn’t help but flinch. “It won’t hurt bad. I don’t hate you  _ that  _ much.” He thought. “Or, well, maybe I do. But I’ll be nice.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun. 

“N-n-no.” Noel could feel tears welling in her eyes. She tried to force them back down, but they spilled over anyway. Sam laughed. “Uncle S-Sam, p-p-please, no.” 

Sam levelled the the gun, and Noel squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She heard a loud ‘ _ thwack _ ’ above her, but she didn’t dare open her eyes. She knew she wasn’t ever going to open them again. 

“Ellie?” She felt Alice’s hands lift her head gently. “Ellie, Ellie, it’s me. It’s me, it’s me. You’re okay. It’s okay. Shit, you’re okay, right?” Noel didn’t open her eyes. This was some kind of trick. “Ellie, talk to me,” Alice pleaded. “Ellie?” She felt Alice’s hands on her cheeks. They were warm. Her head still spun. Her stomach hurt.

“I don’t think those pills were mine,” She said quietly, finally. Alice nearly laughed out of relief but then realized the gravity of what she said.

“Shit, shit,” Alice said. “That’s not good. That’s not good. Ellie, can you throw them up?” 

“Yeah, give me a sec,” Noel sat up and stuck her fingers down her throat. In a minute, she was throwing up on the concrete. It was not pleasant. She retched and retched until her stomach was empty. Alice sat beside her, rubbing her back gently and holding a water bottle ready for when she needed it. 

“Thanks, babe,” Noel said. She didn’t look at Sam’s body on the ground. She couldn’t. She didn’t think he was dead, but the sound the baseball bat had made did not help her thoughts. She sipped the water and took a deep breath. “Where's that motherfucking doll?”

“It’s….gone,” Alice said, furrowing her brow. 

“Fuck,” Noel groaned. “I need a second. Give me a sec and I’ll be ready to tear it to fucking shreds.”

“Okay, okay,” Alice said. She pressed a kiss to Noel’s head and kept watch, just in case anyone else came their way. No one did. They all seemed to be congregated somewhere across the park from them. For now, though, it was silent. 

Then a scream cut its way through the park. Noel’s head shot up and the quick movement caused it to spin. Alice steadied her.

“T-t-that was Grace,” Noel said. “I think that was Grace.” 

“E-Ellie,” Alice said, looking down at the unconscious Sam a few feet away. “Not to, like, freak us both out, but did you say that the Chastitys took their kids to the place where they throw  _ knives _ ?” 

“I did say that, right?” Noel was still dizzy and out of it. “Oh, shit.”

Alice bent down and picked up Sam’s gun. “I’m good at shooting gallery games.” 

“Get me softballs.” Noel said. “I can chuck them.”

“I...okay,” Alice said. “There are some over here.” She led Noel over to the game, and reached behind the counter to get her softballs. “Three enough?” 

“Think so.” Noel took them in her arms as another scream cut through the park. “Let’s go.”

They reached the tent where the Chastitys had been going, only to find a thick crowd gathered around the entrance, watching whatever happened inside with interest and excitement. They could hear Grace’s voice inside. 

Alice set her jaw and started to shove her way through the crowd. Noel followed behind. Some angry comments were thrown their way, but whatever the Chastitys were doing to their kids was apparently amusing enough that nobody gave them a lot of trouble. 

“Please,” Grace’s voice begged. She sounded like she was crying. “I-I-I’ll do the therapy. I’ll do anything. J-j-just don’t hurt him, please. Dad.  _ Please _ .” 

“Shut up,” her father’s voice growled back. 

Alice and Noel reached the front of the crowd and Alice stopped short, almost causing Noel to run into her. The crowd was gathered around two targets, which, judging by the notches in them, were used to throw knives at performers, if they were  _ actually  _ trained professionals. The Chastity twins were tied to the targets, their hands above their heads, and their father was aiming a knife directly at David’s chest. Alice knew somehow that if he threw it, he wasn’t going to miss. 

Alice wasn’t expecting Henry Chastity to get knocked out by a softball going at least 65 into his temple. Especially from Noel, who was clutching onto Alice with all her might. Ruth Chastity went next, hitting the ground just like her husband. 

The crowd muttered in discontentment as Alice and Noel ran into the tent. Grace’s face was bruised and her eyes were filled with tears. Noel, swaying on her feet, began to untie her. Alice ran to free David, who barely looked awake. Blood was trickling from a gash on his head and there was one on his shoulder, from a knife embedded in the wood just next to him. Another couple of inches and it would have gone right through him. 

Noel caught Grace and stumbled almost onto her back. Noel tried to bring herself up but she was too dizzy. 

“Where’s Elsie?” David murmured as Alice reached up to untie his hands. 

“I-I don’t know,” Alice said softly, helping him lie down. “I haven’t heard anything from her. We’ll find her, Davey, I promise.” 

“Help me up,” Noel said to Grace. Grace offered Noel her hand and pulled her to her feet, still looking at David. 

“H-he hit his head,” Grace said softly. 

“Concussed?” 

“I dunno,” Grace said. “He was out for a little bit, so maybe. I-It’s my fault. He took it for me.” 

“Not your fault,” Noel said immediately, balancing on Grace. “It’s not. Let’s go see them, okay?” She rubbed her arm gently.

Grace nodded and she and Noel made their way to where Alice and David were. Alice was trying to look at David’s head, all while keeping one hand on her gun, just in case anyone got any ideas. Grace immediately dropped to her knees beside David, and Noel fell with her. 

“Davey,” Grace whispered softly. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” 

Noel grabbed her water from Alice and washed the cut by ripping a part of her flannel off. This wasn’t one she adored. It was fine. She continued, cleaning the one on his head and then the shoulder one. David winced in pain when she did it. 

“Sorry,” Noel mumbled. 

The loudspeaker crackled to life behind them, and Noel turned to see the spectators all glaring at them with purple eyes. She’d been so consumed with the Chastitys and her own spinning head that she’d forgotten they’d had an audience. She winced at the voice. That same announcer from the show. 

“Now, now,” his voice chided. “That’s not how this game works. You’re breaking the rules and it’s making Blinky  _ sad _ . And do you know what happens to people who make Blinky sad, kids?” 

“He gets fucking shot?” Noel guessed. The crowd roared with laughter, beginning to separate so they could let someone through. 

“No, no, nothing happens to  _ Blinky _ ,” the voice rang out. “But the four of you? You’re gonna get fucking  _ gutted _ . And then…” The voice devolved into unhinged laughter. “A-and then we’ll go gut all your friends, if their mommies and daddies don’t take care of it first-oh, that was a close one!” He laughed hysterically as Blinky barrelled through the crowd, right toward them. Noel froze. She couldn’t even react. Grace tried her best to shield both Noel and David. 

Alice shot the gun. Right into the eye of Blinky. Blinky stopped short, purple goo dripping from his eye. It poured out, gushing onto the floor of the tent. 

The next thing Noel knew, she was in the parking lot, lying on the ground. Alice and the Chastitys were a few feet away. Grace and Alice were just stirring, sitting up and holding their heads in confusion, but David wasn’t moving. 

“Ow,” Noel’s head hurt, and so did her stomach. “Fuck. Shit. Ow.” She tried to stand, but found she couldn’t get to her feet. She opted for half crawling, half dragging herself across the gravel of the parking lot until she reached David, who was the closest to her. She gently shook him in hopes he’d wake up.

She sighed with relief when he let out a soft groan after a minute, forcing his eyes open. 

“Oh, good,” Noel said, propping herself up on her elbows. “Hi.” 

“H-hi,” David said. He glanced around. “W-where’s Elsie? A-a-and Lex and Ethan? W-what the fuck?” 

“We’re figuring that one out, stay down,” Noel said softly. “Hey, hey, it’s me. Can you tell me what your name is?”

It took David a second to answer. “Y-yeah. David.” 

“What’s the date, Davey?” She asked.

“I….” David closed his eyes, then opened them again. “I don’t know.” 

“Okay,” Noel looked around. To be fair, she didn’t know either. Last time she checked, it had been Friday, October 30th. “Okay. Yeah.”

Movement in the forest caught her attention. She tore her attention away from David for a moment to see what it was. She didn’t have her softballs anymore. She didn’t have a weapon. Alice and Grace were both on their feet now, looking in the same direction. Alice gripped her gun. 

The figure emerged from the shadows, leaning heavily on a tree. The shadows shifted for a moment and Noel caught a glimpse of her face. 

“Elsie!” Noel said. She could barely bring herself to her feet. “Elsie!”

It took a second for Elsabeth to look over at her. She had a hundred small cuts all over her face and arms. They didn’t look serious, but Elsabeth seemed unsteady on her feet. She was practically hugging the tree to keep from falling over. 

A car parked not too far away. Noel heard voices, and she could vaguely make out Ethan’s out of them.

“Ethan?” She called weakly. “Lexie?” 

Alice had run over to help Elsabeth over to Noel and David. Elsabeth limped over to them, leaning heavily on Alice and collapsed on the ground next to Noel and David. She could at least sit up, somewhat. 

“Elsie?” David opened his eyes again. His blinks had been getting longer as Noel was focused on Elsabeth. 

“I-it’s me,” Elsabeth said softly, reaching out a shaky hand to touch his face. Her palms had what looked like glass cuts on them. “I-I’m right here. S-stay awake. Concussions ‘re bad.” 

“Ellie?” Ethan’s voice came from somewhere. “Ellie? Are you over here?”   
  


“Ethan!” Alice shouted at the top of her lungs. “It’s Alice! We’re here!” 

Ethan Green emerged from the woods with Lex Foster, Tom Houston, and some redhead Noel didn’t recognize at first. She looked a tiny bit like the nurse from the car crash all that time ago. Ethan and Lex were leaning on each other, both bruised. Lex had a scratch underneath her right eye that looked nasty. 

Elsabeth looked over and began to shake her head slowly. 

“No, Mr. Houston, B-Becky,” she said softly. “N-no. Y-you’re supposed to be with the kids.” 

“Hugo’s at home with them. Tim was the only one up.” Tom held his hands up. “Hannah said something felt weird. She said that the Webby thing was saying something. She refused to calm down until we promised to come check on all of you.” He glanced around. “So, we’re piling into the Sedan.”

“So the kids are okay?” Elsabeth repeated. 

“They’re okay,” Tom reassured. “Let’s get you all home.” He looked at the amount of kids. “Shit. I can’t fit them all.”

“Maybe we could do two-” Becky tried to suggest. 

“No,” Elsabeth said immediately. 

“Emma,” Tom said, pulling out his phone. “She can take...the tiny one.” He pointed at Noel. 

“Noel,” Ethan said. 

“Emma?” Noel asked quietly, dazed. Her head felt light and she felt not totally there.

“Yeah, Emma Perkins,” Tom said. “She works at Beanies. I think she mentioned working with you.” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.” Noel nodded. “I know an Emma.” 

“Okay, why don’t I give her a call, and she can drive a couple of you too,” Tom decided. 

“M-my dad can drive me,” Alice said, something like panic coming over her face. “Oh my God. I need to find my dad. I need to go find my dad.” 

“I saw your dad waiting in his car. I stopped over. He said he knew you and Noel were off doing something so he was just waiting. He also gave me this.” Becky brandished the bottle of pills, the correct one. “He found it on the ground, and figured he should grab it for you.” 

“Oh, shit,” Ethan said. “Sorry, Ellie.”

“I took the wrong pills, I feel like shit, I threw them up though.” Noel reached up for the pills. “I want those.” 

“You took pills you found on the  _ ground _ ?”   
  
“Well, we assumed they were mine!” Noel put her hands up. “I was not thinking straight, in my defense.” 

“When are you ever thinking straight?” Alice said almost instinctively as she kissed the top of Noel’s head gently. Elsabeth snickered, but she was still looking apprehensively at Tom and Becky, as if any moment she was expecting them to snap and come after them with knives. 

“I’m never thinking straight, you know that,” Noel said. “But you know what I mean.” 

“I’ll wait with you guys until Emma gets here,” Alice said, running her fingers through Noel’s hair. She looked up at Becky. “You’re a nurse, right?” 

“Yes, I am,” Becky nodded. “I can help.”

“I think Davey and Elsie have concussions,” Grace said. 

“Davey most definitely,” Noel said. “He doesn’t know what day it is. Elsie might too.” She sipped the water Alice gave her. “I didn’t hit my head or anything.” 

Elsabeth looked up at the mention of her name. “Hm?” 

“Concussed,” Noel said. “You.” She sipped her water again. Elsabeth just shrugged and went back to looking over David. 

“Okay, you took the wrong medication, how do you feel?” Becky asked.

“Nauseous as hell and I have a headache, but otherwise, I’m alright.” She said softly, “I threw it all up once I realized.”

“That was smart,” Becky said as Tom hung up. “You’ll need a few hours to work it out of your system, but you should be fine after that.” 

“Emma said she’ll be on her way,” Tom said, “She’s bringing that guy, like, Pete or whatever his name is.”

“Paul?” Noel’s head shot up. “Paul’s coming with her?” She trusted Paul. Relief flowed through her veins. It wasn’t that she distrusted Mr. Houston or Becky. She trusted Paul a lot more though.

“Yeah, yeah, him,” Tom said, pointing at her. “That’s the one.” 

Becky had made her way over to David and Elsabeth, who had pulled his head into her lap and was speaking to him to try and keep him awake. Whatever she was saying was so soft that no one could hear her. Becky tried to gently take her arm to look at the cuts but she flinched violently and moved back. Her breathing quickened. Noel put a hand on her arm gently. 

“Elsie, she’s good,” Noel whispered. “I promise. It’s just Becky.”

“P-please,” Elsabeth said softly. “J-just d-don’t, right now.  _ Please _ .” 

“That’s okay,” Noel looked up at Becky. “Can you step back, please, Ms. Becky? You can look at Elsie later.”

“Yes, of course,” Becky said. “Sorry, I just-” 

“No, it’s fine,” Noel said. She managed a smile for Becky before turning back to Elsabeth. She gently held out her water for Elsabeth. Elsabeth didn’t even seem to notice. She was staring down at the cuts on her arms, trembling. Her eyes were a little unfocused. “Elsie, love, can you have some water for me? Can you hold it yourself? It’s Ellie.”

David shifted so that his hand was on hers, avoiding the cuts on her palms. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. Even then, it took a second for Elsabeth to respond. 

“I-I-I….” She looked at her own trembling hands. “I...I don’t-don’t….” She broke off. 

“Elsie,” Noel said quietly, gently bringing the bottle into her view. “I’m gonna help you drink this, okay? I-It’ll help.”

Elsabeth nodded a bit to show she heard Noel. Noel brought the bottle to her lips. She helped her slowly take small sips from the bottle. “Good, good, E-Elsie.”

“S-s-sorry,” Elsabeth managed to choke out. 

“No, it’s okay,” Noel whispered, placing a gentle hand on her back. “It’s gonna be okay, we’re all gonna be okay.” She rubbed her back slowly, helping her sip. “You’re doing great.” 

Elsabeth nodded slowly, her fingers tightly gripping David’s hand. 

“Deep breaths, Elsie,” Noel murmured. “Can you do that for me?” 

Emma’s car parked next to Tom’s and Paul hopped out. 

“Hey, Tom, what’s going on?” He jogged over to Tom and Becky and Noel looked up immediately. “Emma said something about…Ellie?” He met Noel’s eyes and Noel almost passed out again shooting to her feet to see him. She barrelled into Paul’s arms, almost knocking him over. “Ellie?”

“ _ Ellie _ ?” Emma asked, getting out of the car. “Who the hell’s Ellie?”

“Her,” Paul said, pointing down at Noel. “This is Ellie.” 

“Noel?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, Noel,” Paul said. “I, uh, forgot that was her full name for a sec.” He rubbed Noel’s back as Noel buried her head in his shoulder. 

“Let’s get you all back to the house, yeah?” Becky said softly. “I’ll be able to look at you all better there.” 

“Okay.” Grace looked up. “Thanks, Ms. Barnes.” She glanced down at David. “I, um, I’m not sure Davey’s gonna be able to walk.” 

“I can pick him up.” Tom offered, bending down to lift David. He was strong enough.

As soon as Tom tried to move David away from Elsabeth, her hand reached out to hold David’s arm tightly. Tom gently tried to pry her hand off, but Elsabeth only jumped when he touched her, even though it wasn’t hard and he didn’t intend to hurt her. 

“Elsie…” Alice looked over at her. “You have to let go.” 

“I-I know,” Elsabeth said, pulling her hand away from David’s arm. The blood from her palms left a red handprint mark. “S-sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Tom said as he lifted David. “Uh, Pete, can you take whoever else?”

“Gracie,” Noel looked up, “And E?”

“I...I think I’ll go with Davey, if that’s okay,” Grace said softly. 

“I’ll go with you, Phil,” Lex offered, looking up. She’d been largely quiet for most of the time. “Me, Ellie, and E?” 

“We can do that,” Paul nodded. “Okay, Ellie?” He looked down at her. “Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah.” Noel nodded. “That’s fine. Fine.” She managed a smile for the rest of them. “I’ll see you guys at the house, yeah?” 

Becky handed Emma the pill bottle. “She can take these in three hours. I’m trusting you with them.”   
  
“Aren’t  _ you _ the nurse?”

“You’ll be with Noel,” Becky replied matter-of-factly. “She trusts you. And I trust  _ you _ to hold onto her meds.” She pushed the bottle into her hand. “I trust you can administer medication, Emma.”

“I’ll take it, if you want, Em.” Paul held out his hand for the bottle. 

Emma nodded and handed him the medicine bottle. Paul tucked it into the pocket of his jacket and began guiding Noel to the car. 

“We’ll see you back at yours, Tom?” Emma asked as Tom carefully set David down in the backseat of his car. Grace was walking with Elsabeth behind them, letting Elsabeth lean on her and essentially holding her up. 

“Yeah,” Tom said. “You know how to get there, right?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Emma said, giving him a thumbs-up as Lex and Ethan got into their car. “I can drive myself to Jane’s old house.” She made sure Paul was in the driver’s seat after situating Noel. She could vaguely make out Noel’s form leaning against Ethan. 

  
The sign for Watcherworld disappeared behind dark trees and the night sky swallowed it up. None of the teenagers ever wanted to see that place again. It made their blood run cold. Those woods were not safe, for anyone, ever.  _ Hatchetfield _ wasn’t safe. They all were hoping for a miracle of college acceptances to sprinkle them across the country, far far away from Hatchetfield.

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i reallt hope you guys enjoyed this! please do something to unwind after, this was heavy to read 100%. 
> 
> please leave a comment, we worked very hard on this
> 
> and come yell at us on tumblr:
> 
> kat : @just-a-side-kick  
> liv : @thegalwhoreallylikesmusicals


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